Borns Jewish Studies Program

Leaders of the American Jewish community have consistently warned of the imminent dissolution of the community throughout the 20th century. Fears of mass assimilation into the relatively liberal and accepting “mainstream” of American society have driven much of internal Jewish discourse. Despite the handwringing of leaders of major American Jewish organizations, the Jewish community today is strikingly robust and offers an outstanding diversity of cultural forms and communities. Jewish life in America ranges from ultra-Orthodox communities that are intentionally separatist in their linguistic and lifestyle choices, to liberal communities that are completely integrated into non-Jewish society. In the space between these easily identifiable extremes lie a fascinating set of Jewish subcultures that employ a variety of strategies to incorporate Jewish history, culture and religious traditions into their lives and the lives of communities.

In this class we will undertake a cross-sectional analysis of contemporary Jewish American cultural production and self-representation. We will closely consider a diverse range of contemporary Jewish communities to try and better understand how Jews in America today express both their sense of difference and their participation in the larger stream of American culture. How have American Jewish subcultures responded to the perception of Judaism as vulnerable to assimilation into the mainstream?  How have American Jews incorporated ideas and cultural forms from the majority culture, repurposing them to express their own needs and desires? What aspects of Jewish history have been reclaimed to create a “usable past” that is legible and desirable from the perspective of contemporary communities? Readings and lectures by the instructor will offer students key analytical frameworks for interpreting the materials approached in this class. Theoretical tool that we develop will help students make informed connections between the historical record and contemporary lives, unspooling the intellectual lineages of current practices and ideas. These analytical frameworks will be a resource the students can take with them and apply in their future studies and life paths.

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